Ally Mcbeal: Cover Up
by Thor2000
Summary: Several years after New York, Ally is a widowed mother of two more daughters. Maddie is now a Boston reporter and her middle daughter is reopening her father's murder case from twenty years prior...
1. Chapter 1

Fourteen years since she was made partner, Ally felt as if she was still not getting any respect. Her fiftieth birthday was also looming over her head and she and Billy were running the place with John and Richard in absentia. John and his wife, Nita, were off on a second honeymoon to the Caribbean and to not be outdone, Liza was dragging Richard and his money through Europe. The only bright spot in Ally's day was to go to lunch with Maddie and her daughter, Georgia, named by her late husband after Billy's wife. Her youngest, Lainey, was gone to college as she relished her time with her progeny.

"Maddie," Ally emerged from her office. "You ready?"

"Just a minute, mom." Maddie gestured to her cameraman and lifted a microphone as Ally found herself on the spot.

"This is Maddie Collins for the Boston Six O'clock news." Using the name of her adopted father, she started talking as she and her mother got hit with a light. Ally froze as she realized she was being taped.

"I'm standing in the law firm of Cage, Fish, Thomas and McBeal, the very law firm who is going to be defending Jeremy McBride..." Maddie continued in her job as a network reporter and exploited her mother for a quick interview as Ally gasped. "...the alleged suspect in the recent Coffee House Strangler case about to start court proceedings next week. Mrs. McBeal, do you think you can get a fair trial after the media coverage already demonstrated in this case ?" Maddie turned to her mother.

"Oh, um, uh, uh..." Ally tried to support her daughter's job as a local TV reporter, but she made it so hard. "Yes, I believe we can. You see, reporters won't be allowed in the courtroom." She scowled to her daughter.

"Does the defense have any proof to the contrary against the police evidence?" Maddie asked as she grilled her mother.

"No comment."

"How about McBride's claims that these seven murders were underworld slayings and he is just being framed?" Maddie pressed a bit further.

"No comment."

"Is there anything you can tell us?"

"No comment."

"Thank you very much, Mrs. McBeal." Maddie started her sign-off. "As you can see, the defense is keeping a tight lid on their facts - back to you. This is Maddie Collins for the Boston Six O'clock News. Cut!!" She lowered her microphone. "Okay, Mike, get that to the station for the news spot."

"Right, Mads..." Maddie's camera man left as she turned to her mother.

"How dare you put me on the spot like that!" Ally scowled.

"Mom," Maddie loosened up and undid her ponytail. "They could have sent Amber Hunt, and you know how obnoxious she is! We're still having lunch, right?"

"Okay," Ally relented as she led the way to elevator. "But only because I've really been looking forward to this. Let's get your sister..."

"Oh," Maddie suddenly remembered something. "She called me from the courthouse. She's stuck in court with Aunt Renee." Renee Raddick was still a very close friend of Ally.

"Well," Ally scratched her chin as and looked young again in the sunlight streaming from the window behind her. "Then it's just the two of us... No talking about the case?"

"Right." Maddie answered as Ally gave the sign to Billy she was going to lunch. Billy acknowledged her from his office while he continued talking on his phone with a view of the outer offices. He continued talking to John in Europe for another twenty minutes then noticed Glen Noe, one of the junior partners, pass his door. He rose to talk to him about a recent case as they both looked up as they saw the former child they knew was now a beautiful young woman. Georgia Angelique Collins, the youngest and most promising student lawyer in the firm, glided from the elevators as a beautiful brunette angel they couldn't touch. Resembling Nashville vocalist Sherri North, she had Ally's look and regal up bearing of the Collins family. Their eyes scoped her perfect butt twitching under her short skirt as and her arm pulling back her long mane of dark curly hair. They heard etheral music in their heads pulsing up from Vonda's Martini bar downstars as she strutted before them as some forbidden fruit.

"Pretty Woman...Walking Down The Street...  
"Oh, Pretty Woman...Walking Down The Street...  
"Oh You Look So Good To Me...Mercy!..." The music was affecting them.

"Like what you see?" Georgia Thomas busted their bubble as she caught them lusting after Ally's daughter. Billy and Glen's record needle jumped and scratched the imaginations of what could have been had they been younger and unmarried as they looked to her.

"Oh, well, we were..." Billy was on the spot.

"Yes, just..." Glen postured a bit. "Marveling at how far she's come..."

"Yes," Georgia swatted her husband. "She's become a very beautiful woman." She exhaled a bit disgustedly as she rolled her eyes. Marching ahead of them, she wondered if they were checking her out as she strided up to Ally's old office which her little namesake now had.

"Georgia?" She stuck her head in.

"Hi, Aunt Georgia..." Younger Georgia was grinning ear to ear as she opened up a packet from her mail.

"I was wondering." Her godmother looked at her. "You missed lunch with your mom, how about coming with me?" She looked at the legal documents in her namesake's hands. "What do you got?"

"What? Oh, I just had the Collinsport Police Department send me a copy of my dad's murder report." She answered. "I'm going to reopen the investigation."

"You are?" Georgia nervously looked up at her. "Does your mother know you're doing this?"

"Well..." The young brunette beauty tossed her hair. "I tried talking to her about it all last month but she kept changing the subject. Oh, I'd love to go to lunch with you."

"Honey," Georgia watched Ally's daughter stand, grab her coat and drop the case file in her briefcase. "Maybe you ought to get your mother's help in this. You've only been practicing for a few months. You're still basically just an intern."

"She so busy in the McBride trial." Young Georgia stood. "I'll surprise her later. Just think, after almost twenty years, I could find out who killed my father. Oh, this guy is going to burn!"

"Well," The older blonde Georgia turned making a face that predicted war between mother and daughter. "Someone is going to be surprised..." She reacted as if she already knew who the killer was.


	2. Chapter 2

Georgia Collins strolled into the home which she shared with her mother and half-sister, Maddie, as she left her briefcase set aside on the table in the living room and entered the kitchen. Taking a bottle of water from the refrigerator, she slowly turned as she drank it and panned the living room as Maddie sat in the big chair in her big, bulky tan sweater and old faded blue jeans. She had a wad of mail in her lap as she read it a letter at a time.

"Anything for me?" Georgia asked.

"No," Maddie answered. "This is all mine."

"What?"

"It's my fan mail from the station." Maddie admitted honestly.

"Fan mail?" Georgia scoffed. "You're a TV reporter."

"I don't get it either." Maddie looked up as she read another one. "Look, this guy wants a picture of me, and so does this guy. This guy wants a picture of me in a bikini, and this guy wants a picture of me from my broadcast at the cemetery last week…"

"Eww…" Georgia looked at the letter herself.

"…Flashing my breasts…." Maddie continued.

"Ewwwww!!!" Georgia cringed as Maddie started to open another one. They didn't get very far as they heard the front doors opening and closing. They looked up as Ally entered, paused to hang her coat on the coat rack and then place her briefcase aside. She looked up to Georgia watching her.

"This one thinks I look like that cheerleader on Heroes." Maddie scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I heard what you're doing…" Ally came within inches of her daughter and looked upon her sternly adamant and determined. "And I want you to stop it."

"What?" Georgia looked at her mother.

"Your father's murder." Ally continued. "I don't want you opening that case."

"What?" Georgia and Maddie shared a brief look. "Why not?" Georgia followed her mother into the kitchen as she pulled out the plastic pitcher of tea and poured herself out a drink. "Mom, I thought you more than anyone…."

"Look," Ally sipped her tea. "It took me a long time to get over your father's death. I do not want to live it again. So, drop it."

"Mom," Georgia didn't understand a thing of what was happening as she noticed Maddie backing her up. "I don't get it. I thought you more than anyone else would want to get the person who killed dad."

"I said drop it." Ally gave her the look. It was the same look she gave when she warned her girls against pushing her too far.

"Mom," Georgia stood her ground. "It doesn't make sense. No one ever tried to catch the guy who killed my father, and I never understood that. He could have killed someone else and we could have stopped it. Why has this person never been found?"

"I am ordering you to drop this case!!" Ally screamed.

"No!" Georgia screamed as Ally stared at her. Maddie watched the two of them staring at each other and waited for one of them to react.

"Look," She started to talk. "I don't see the big thing………"

"It is so very important that you do not finish that sentence." Ally looked at her. "Go watch TV!" She watched while Maddie turned a bit offended on her heel to return to her mail.

"I want the guy that killed my father." Georgia gritted her teeth determinedly.

"Forget it." Ally stared her daughter down. "The case cannot be solved."

"Did you even try?" Georgia argued further as her mother indifferently sipped her tea. "A lot has changed in the last twenty years! There are DNA procedures that could have been used to re-examine the crime scene."

"No!!" Ally screamed as Maddie returned to the kitchen. "For the last time, you are not re-opening that case!!!!" She noticed her other daughter. "Now what do you want?"

"Lainey's on TV." Maddie answered as Ally and Georgia looked at each other. They took a second to realize what she had said then forgot their argument long enough to march in unison into to the living room. They stood in front of the set as they watch a dishwashing commercial.

"Not there," Maddie answered. "They just cut for break. It was just for a second while I was changing channels."

"That girl is supposed to be in college." She reminded herself. She had had two daughters while she was married. Maddie was the product of her ovum being given to a childless couple. Of the three of them, Lainey had been the most uncontrolled since her father's death… her father's murder. It was almost as if she had been lashing out at the world for taking her beloved father away from her.

"What was she doing?" Georgia asked.

"Well," Maddie started as the TV show came back on. "She was…"

"Hi, I'm Ryan Seacrest for American Idol…" The host of the show looked out from the screen. "And this is…" He shared his microphone.

"Lainey Collins!" The girl screamed to her mother from within the TV.

Ally's jaw lightly fell as she saw her teenage daughter on the TV. Maddie and Georgia stood grinning at the sight of their little sister on the screen.

"They must have filmed this last summer when they were auditioning." Maddie answered.

"Nervous?" Ryan asked the excited young brunette beauty.

"A little." Lainey was standing outside curtains to the judge's area.

"Knock them dead." Ryan motioned for her as the curtains were parted for her. "Lainey Collins, everyone."

"Oh my god………" Ally watched in disbelief as her baby girl strolled out in front of a new camera angle into a larger room and stood on the American Idol emblem on the floor. Beaming effervescently, she looked up at a white-haired Simon Cowell still as brutally honest lifting his head then looking over to his female judge. Next to him was eternally youthful Kelly Clarkson and on the end was Reuben Studdard just a bit thinned down from his years as the Velvet Teddy Bear. Kelly shined on this young girl in the black blouse and faded blue jeans and shined at the girl's astounding resemblance to herself at that age.

"Oh my god…" Her voice cracked a bit. "I feel like I'm having déjà vu."

"Someone cloned Kelly!" Reuben joked as Kelly jabbed him playfully.

"Lainey," Simon tried to be unimpressed. "Is that short for something?"

"Elaine. I was named for my aunt." Lainey beamed. Elaine Vassal was a former assistant at Cage and Fish before becoming a TV actress.

"Why do you think you can be the next American Idol?" He asked.

"Well," Lainey watched as Kelly stared at her in stunned awe and silence. "I've been singing since I was very little and while I'm probably not good enough to be American Idol, I'd hate myself if I didn't at least try."

"I like your answer." Kelly grinned because she found herself already liking her clone.

"What are you going to sing for us?" Reuben asked.

"With Mrs. Clarkson's permission," Lainey looked at the judges. " ' A Moment Like This?' "

"Go for it!" Kelly grinned ear to ear at the tribute.

"Okay," Lainey grinned and stepped back a little. Swallowing her fear, she tried to recall the lyrics to the song as she lifted her head up and allowed them to pour from her mind and heart.

"What if I told you, it was all meant to be…" She started singing a bit nervously at being before her idol.  
"Would you believe me?  
"Would you agree?  
"It's almost that feeling………  
"That we've met before.  
"So tell me that you don't think I'm crazy…  
"When I tell you love has come and now...

"A moment like this………  
"Some people wait a lifetime,  
"For a moment like this.  
"Some people search forever…  
"For that one special kiss.  
"Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me  
"Some people wait a lifetime,  
"For a moment like this…………"

Simon put his hand up as Lainey stopped. He seemed to sigh and lean back in his seat as he looked to the ceiling. From their Boston home, Lainey's sisters never felt prouder as Ally continued watching standing. Ally's mind and heart were fighting each other with waves of pride and confusion to her daughter on television.

"Don't break my baby's heart." She was mumbling under breath. "Don't break my baby's heart…."

"Reuben?" Simon asked. He had a habit of bouncing comments off the other judges to determine what he was going to say.

"Well," The former Pop Teddy Bear started grinning as his hazel brown eyes lit up with impressed amazement. "I loved it. I think you were a bit nervous starting out but you pushed through and really hit that sound we look for. I say, Hollywood."

"Kelly?"

"I loved it too." She beamed at Lainey. "I truly feel like I'm back in time watching myself audition. I say Hollywood."

Lainey nervously looked to Simon as he exhaled again and leaned forward.

"Uhhh…" Simon's groaning made America cringe over every talent that it took a shine too. "You come in here, looking like Kelly, sounding like Kelly, you sing one of Kelly's songs. I have to wonder. Can this girl sing anything else? I mean, you're basically a Kelly Clarkson impersonator. Can you sing anything else?"

"Um…" Lainey thought a second. "Wind beneath my Wings?"

"Not again!" Kelly, Reuben and Simon had heard that a hundred times before from other people who were under the mistaken belief they could sing.

"Simon," Reuben looked over. "The girl's got chops. I think she'll sound like Kelly no matter what she sings."

"Well,…." Simon stretched out his mulling period, but even he knew he wasn't that bad a dream-crusher. "Congratulations…" He remarked. "You're going to Hollywood."

In a Boston brownstone, Georgia and Maddie Collins cheered as they hugged each other. After all the years of their little sister annoying them by singing through the house and imitating Britney Spears, they were ecstatic to actually see her make something of her talent. Ally McBeal-Collins gasped with subdued heartfelt pride and placed her hand to her heart as she continued watching with glowing pride. Her expression then changed to alarm as Lainey departed the judges and ran out into the halls to meet Paula Anderson, her husband's first girlfriend and her rival who still bore an uncanny resemblance to Paula Abdul! So it was her behind this!!!

"I'm opening that case!" Georgia continued to challenge her mother.

"Like hell you are!" Ally had enough things to worry about.


	3. Chapter 3

Cute and attractive Julie Costello was delivering the mail to the lawyers of the firm as she stopped and noticed Corretta talking to Jenny and Georgia. Corretta still young in her late forties, but Jenny was struggling with her weight and trying to gain some. She had always had a high metabolism and she never quite ate enough. Both of them eternally envied Georgia for looking eternal and secretly whispered words of plastic and lipo under breath round her. Rather than take Corretta's mail all the way to her office up the stairs on the top landing, young and vital Julie Costello strided over proudly and made eye contact with them as Corretta somehow instinctively knew the young assistant was bringing her mail.

"Thanks, girl." Corretta perused her mail.

"Not a problem."

"Julie," Jenny glanced to the lovely blonde assistant that had replaced Elaine. "We're out of coffee. When you get a chance?"

"Coffee?" Julie turned her head to the alcove near her cubby where the coffeepot was. As she stared at the two empty pots, both machines clicked on by themselves and started brewing more coffee on their own.

"Already covered." Julie grinned to them as Georgia turned around and looked at the coffeepots already brewing.

"She is a lot more efficient than Elaine ever was." She mentioned out loud.

"Well, anyway," Corretta continued her discussion. "The way I hear it, Georgia wants to open her father's murder trial and Ally's not letting her. They were arguing and screaming all this morning and was there to hear it. Ally was down right getting nasty!"

"I don't get it." Jenny raised the coffee cup she had been mothering. "Why doesn't Ally want to open William's murder? I thought she'd be more interested than anyone else to solve this case."

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Georgia was drinking bottled water these days to lose weight. "The case is... well, over ten years old and... Well, William's family..."

"Is a lot like the Kennedys." Jenny looked at her. "And we all know how well they covered up things."

"Georgia," Corretta made one of her streetwise looks at her. "Do you know something about this case that we don't?'

"No." Georgia answered curtly if not quickly. "It's just that... well, the case is closed, and..."

"She knows something!" Corretta and Jenny teamed up.

"No, I don't." Georgia looked at them.

"Spill it." Jenny grinned excitedly. "Why doesn't Ally want the case opened?"

"I don't know!" Georgia backed away.

"You do too!" Corretta looked her over. "You know you want to tell!"

"I do not." Georgia backed to an office door as Billy popped his head up from preparing his opening statements on a case. Over the years, his dark hair had become salt and pepper, silver hairs poking though his naturally dark brown hair. His proud frame was thinner now after recurring cancer treatments, but he was now in remission. Worries of his old brain tumor were long gone. He had survived those years ago shortly after Ally starting William. He had heard the conversation through the door.

"Georgia, we need to talk!"

"I'm here." The blonde one slipped through as Billy slammed the door to Jenny and Corretta. They stopped and looked at each other as they lost the chance to hear juicy gossip.

"That was close." Georgia pressed her back to the door as she looked to her husband.

"I know," Billy rolled his eyes a bit relieved. "I mean, if the facts came back to us that we leaked the news, the Collins family would..."

"Eat us up and spit us out?" Georgia completed his train of thought.

"If we're lucky..." Billy looked at her.

"Damn..." Corretta toss her long black hair back. "She was that close to spilling." She inhaled and exhaled briefly as she looked at Jenny. "You don't think Ally..." She dragged her finger across her neck as if she were severing her own head off.

"Ally?" Jenny scoffed. "They were in love. Ally wouldn't..." She tried picturing it. "It would make so much sense..." They heard the elevator opening as Larry Paul stepped out and panned the room. He stopped a second to shine his glasses and then pulled them back on and was on his way through the back hall to the office of John Cage where Ally was working. Known as the Biscuit, the senior partner was away on a vacation with his lovely wife for a change. He rapped on the partially opened door as the forty-something lady lawyer lifted her head and looked across the room a bit owl-like in her glasses.

"Larry?"

"Ready for lunch?" He postured a bit and re-buttoned his coat.

"Oh," Ally remembered a second. "Just let me finish these books."

"How's that McBride case thing going on?" Larry wondered out loud as he played with the things on the desk. He looked up like a rascally young man with his own salt and pepper hair. Looking at him, Ally tried to fugue out why she had hated this guy all those years before.

"Oh," She responded a bit distracted. "I think we have a defense, but if you ask me, I think he did it, but that's just between you and me."

"Of course,"

"But then," Ally continued. "The more I listen to him, I'm beginning to think he's innocent. He knows something about the case, but... He might actually be connected to the real killer."

"You think he's covering?"

"Possibly," Ally removed her reading glasses. "I really don't have enough to go on and he's being difficult too."

"Well," Larry scratched his nose a second as he noticed Ally rising. He reached to help her with her jacket. "Let's not talk shop. Let's go to lunch. I've got us reservations at Melville's."

"Great!"

"Did I see your youngest on American Idol last night?" Larry cocked his head curiously intrigued.

"Let's not go there." Ally shined as someone knocked at the door to the office. "She's going to get hers." She turned her head to the messenger.

"Yes,"

"Mrs. McBeal?" The young man handed over an envelope and turned out. Ally scowled a second a bit confused as she started tearing open the letter she had been handed. She started reading it.

"Is it about the case?" Larry asked as Ally's eyes widened in surprise and her voice started growling.

"Ally?"

"It's a subpoena!!!" Ally shrieked. "My daughter's suing me for impeding her investigation into her father's murder!!!!!"

"She's got guts." Larry remarked as Ally shot a look at him and then stormed out for her old office. Corretta and Jenny watched her stride out across the outer offices and knew something was up. They wanted ringside seats as Ally stormed across the room with the force of an angry wave of destruction and pushed her daughter's office door open. Georgia Angelique Collins lifted her head from her father's case.

"Who do you think you are?!!!" Ally slammed the door on Corretta and Jenny's faces. "You're suing me?!!! How dare you!!!"

"It was the only thing I could come up with!!" She stood up behind her mother's desk. "You can't stop me from opening..."

"This will never go to court!!!" Ally screamed back. "I'll get Whipper to rescind it!!! There is no way you will get this case opened!!!"

In the outer office, Georgia left Billy in John's office and noticed Jenny and Corretta listening at the door to the screaming behind it. The temps and staff were walking around with their ears cocked to the screaming.

"Why are you doing this to me?!!!" Young brunette Georgia screamed at her mother. "I would have thought you more than anyone else would want to catch dad's killer! Doesn't he deserve to rest in peace?!!!"

"No! I mean, yes!!!" Ally glared at her. "Oh... Just drop it!!!"

"Why?!!!!" Georgia looked at her. "What are you hiding?!!! If I didn't know better... I'm beginning to think you're the one who killed him!!!!!"

Ally slapped her daughter hard across the face as hard as she could at the insult. Georgia's head flailed back as she reached to her face. Everyone in the outer offices gasped at the sudden silence as Larry stood in the sidelines near Georgia Thomas. He looked to her wondering what was happening as unseen to anyone, young Georgia glared back to her mother as Ally saw her daughter once more as a crying little girl. She forgot her anger for the moment and felt sorry for just the second. Things were never going to be the same between them.

"I'm sorry..." Ally gasped.

"You... you..." Georgia Collins scowled a bit hurt to her mother as she marched to the door and lurched it open. Jenny and Corretta jumped back as the hardheaded brunette rushed to the unisex trying to be invisible. Her Aunt Georgia rushed to be by her side as Larry moved closer to Ally. The waif-like lawyer spun around and held on to him.

"Make it stop." She was weeping. "Make it stop..."

"Don't worry," Larry comforted her. "I'm here."


	4. Chapter 4

Judge Whipper Cone still had a lot of friends at Cage, Fish, Thomas and McBeal and she didn't mind at all to help them out when it was within her power. Billy had told her of the circumstances going on in the firm and she agreed to privately handle young Georgia's plea for a new investigation into her father's murder. The two Georgia's sat on one side of the conference room in her chambers and Larry and Ally sat on the other side. Whipper was reading younger Georgia's complaint and then Ally's counter-suit as she hoped to resolve the situation.

"Ally," Whipper barely looked up. "Why didn't the Collinses investigate further?"

"Well, we..." Ally started. "They didn't want the publicity. William's death hit everyone extremely hard. He was supposed to inherit Collinwood and the estate." Ally's voice quivered as Larry took her hand and supported her.

"Uh-huh." Whipper looked up to the two Georgias. This was her first chance to meet Ally's daughter as she looked upon her and saw a lot of Ally in her. She looked a lot like her mother.

"Georgia," Whipper looked upon the young girl. "Why is it so important to you to re-open this case?"

"Because since I was a teenager I was told my father and Aunt Amanda had been killed by an intruder." Georgia spoke openly. "Every time I tried to get more details on why or how, I was ignored or distracted. It's been driving me nuts for almost ten years. No one will tell me who killed them or why. I became a lawyer so I could learn why. I want to meet the person who killed my father and took him away from me."

Whipper stared at her and grinned at her persistence. She was looking forward to meeting her in court. She turned her head to Ally.

"Ally," Whipper removed her glasses. "If this goes to court, your daughter's going to win her injunction."

"That's why we're here." Ally answered. "So you can stop it."

"Ally," Whipper briefly cleared her throat. "I can't do that. Maybe if the Collins's family lawyer got involved, they could..."

"I already talked to Tony." Ally responded solemnly. Tony was an old friend and her colleague back when she had practiced in Maine. "He said because this is a struggle between two family members that we have to resolve it ourselves. He can't do anything unless it involves a non-family member trying to open the case."

"Then let Georgia open it."

"No."

Georgia sighed as she and her aunt both rolled their eyes. Larry sighed a bit as he turned round.

"Ally," He looked at her. "You need to have a reason to keep Georgia out of this. William was her father. Whatever happened, she has a right to know."

"Whose side are you on?" Ally glared at him.

"Yours, of course," Larry insisted. "But Ally..." He tilted his head a bit as he tried to appeal to her. "This is your daughter. If you don't give her a reason, she's going to get to the answer."

"Ally," Georgia Thomas spoke up. "What does the rest of the family say?"

"Nothing." Ally answered. "I haven't told them."

"I told them." Young Georgia confessed as Ally glared at her. "Grandpa and grandma told me to talk to mom about it. Uncle Quentin and Aunt Carolyn both said it was about time to I learned the truth. Mom is the only one holding out."

"Ally," Georgia Thomas was sticking by her goddaughter. "Tell her what happened."

"No."

"If you don't, I will!" Georgia threatened her.

"Wait a minute," Larry reacted a bit confused. "Georgia knows? I thought you said no one outside the family knew?!"

"I'm taking that secret to the grave." Ally gritted her teeth as tears started running from her eyes. Her resolve was started to break.

"William's death left me screwed up for a long time and if you say a word, I will sue you for everything you own."

"Why are you being so pig-headed?!!!" Georgia Collins stood up screaming with tears running down her face and pounded the table as Whipper pounded her gavel to stop the shouting. Her father's murder had screwed her up too. She had blamed her mother for it for years and had lived with her grandparents until she finally decided to come to her mother's home in Boston. Older Georgia calmed her namesake as Ally's daughter took a deep breath. She looked at Whipper then to her godmother. Ally blinked her eyes and lowered her head as Larry stayed by her.

"Okay," Her daughter gasped. "You know, I don't know what the hell you are covering up. Someone breaks into the house, takes Aunt Manda hostage, dad rushes to save her and then..." She stopped as something popped into her head. Her father had been shot in the back. Her aunt shot in the head at close range. She reached to the file on the table and read that powder burns from the gun were on her aunt's left hand. Why would she have had burns on her if her father were shot struggling with it? The fact her father was shot in the back of the head suggested that he must have trusted the person who had killed him. Her father had been shot in the back of the head - the BACK of the head. Her aunt killed with the gun close to her face. The answer was already there, and it had been staring at her the whole time.

"Oh god..." Her eyes started filling with tears it somehow dawned on her.

"Don't say it, don't say it..." Ally looked at her as her chin started trembling.

"Did Aunt 'Manda kill daddy?" Her head tilted to one side. Ally froze at the mere realization. She looked from Georgia to Whipper then back to Larry. He was almost stunned at the sound of it as much as Whipper was. Her jaw lightly dropped open at the accusation. Ally dropped her head unable to say anything.

"Did Aunt Amanda kill my father?!!!!" Georgia Collins realized that she had figured it out. Ally started breaking down as Larry reached to console her. Georgia Thomas rose to support her namesake as Whipper froze at the news. Bawling on Larry's shoulder, Ally was losing it all over again as she recalled holding her husband's body. She had raced into the house seconds after hearing the gunshots. The sound of the car must have panicked Amanda to change her plans at the last second. Ally recalled finding William's body prostrate on the floor in the arch of his study at home and his blood all over her as she pleaded for him not to die. It shouldn't have happened. Amanda had been trying to kill her! Not him!

"She was in love with him!" Ally confessed through her torment as Larry shed a tear with her. "I even warned him that she was out to get me, but..." Her voice choked on the torture bubbling from her broken heart. "She took him away from me!!!" Larry squeezed her tighter and cooed to her to try and calm her.

"Oh God," Whipper lowered her head on the desk. She had heard like everyone else the Collins family's "official" account to the press. William had been a minor celebrity. A writer, an adventurer, a paranormal explorer, he had left behind hundreds of friends and colleagues and the heavens had dimmed when he departed this mortal shell.

"Honey," Blonde Georgia was even tearing a bit as she looked into the eyes of Ally's daughter. "Your aunt was really confused. She couldn't tell the difference between respect and true love. She was convinced she was supposed to marry your father."

"Why didn't you tell me?!!!" Younger Georgia didn't want to accept it. Her mind flashed back to her playing dress up with her mother's clothes and her asking her and her sister to call her mommy. It all made sense to her as she realized even then her aunt was trying to take her mother's place. All this time and she didn't realize it!

"You girls loved your Aunt Amanda more than your Aunt Sara or Aunt Lizzie!!" Ally choked on the tears. "She was pretending that you were her daughters and covering it up! She was a psychopath!! I didn't want you to know the truth! I wanted you to remember your father..." She was losing it all over again as Larry held on to her. Whipper, however, gasped at the shock and horror as she rose to leave them to their grief.

"I'll be outside." She mentioned to blonde Georgia trying to support the grief-stricken daughter. The senior lawyer held on to the young girl as mother and daughter finally rushed to each other and hugged in order to bury their hostilities. It was the last sight Whipper saw as Larry Paul and Georgia Harridge-Thomas joined her in the hall.


	5. Chapter 5

PART FIVE

"This is Maddie Collins for the Boston Six O'Clock news." Ally's other daughter was on TV this time. "I am now standing outside the very courtroom where just a few minutes ago it was revealed in court that Jeremy McBride was once a member of the self-same Devil's Cult which three years ago threatened to blow up five of Boston's most prominent churches and cathedrals in return for a ransom. This now leaves both prosecution and defense to wonder if the so-called Coffee House Murders could be connected to that unsolved case or if McBride is now trying to get a plea bargain to release info he knows in that case. The police are now going to re-question him as the current trial is put on hold for a new thorough investigation. This has been Maddie..." Billy Alan Thomas turned off the law firm's TV as he smirked and turned to look to Ally standing insecurely behind him. Ever present Nell Porter folded her arms a bit as she tried to find a reason in the new twist.

"Why do I think this will get worse before it gets better?" She mumbled out loud.

"Well," Billy shoved his hands into his pockets. "John and Nita get back this weekend from their trip and maybe the work load will shift a bit."

"I talked to him." Ally admitted. "This thing with my daughter has emotionally drained me." She looked up to Billy. "He's going to take over the case for me so I can take a break."

"Where are you going to go?" Nell was a bit warmed over in the last few years.

"I was thinking of Collinsport." The once fragile lady lawyer admitted strongly. "Georgia needs a break. She needs to get to know who her father was. To rediscover who he was..."

"Take has much time as you need." Billy looked at her as Ally hugged him. He squeezed her back as Nell approached and gave Ally a much needed hug too. She grinned to her and realized how far they had come together and supported each other as she realized whom her friends were. Ally gasped a bit reflectively as she stepped out of the conference room for John's office. As she did, Corretta lightly glided across her path.

"Ally," She lifted her head. "I heard your daughter dropped her case. What did you say to her to make her change her mind?"

"It was her decision."

"Oh..." Corretta stared at her for a second then forced the question out from her mind. "You didn't really..." She lifted her eyebrows.

"Kill my husband?" Ally rolled her eyes a bit and continued walking as she refused to comment on it. As she walked away, Corretta wondered on the answer as she felt a slight chill for a second. She thought about it a second and then scoffed at the mere notion. William Benjamin Collins was a prince in a world where there were so few. Ally loved him more than anything. Continuining on her way, the tormented woman who was once Allison Marie McBeal just re-entered John's empty office and motioned for the desk. She picked up a few papers that Julie must have left for her and then felt a slight chill dance up her spine in the otherwise empty room. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention as her mind recalled that sensation.

"Oh god..." She gasped. "You're there, aren't you?" She slowly turned around and looked behind her toward the double doors of the office. She recognized the person standing there in a black suit and blue tie looking at her and checking her out with a beaming broad grin. Her hallucinations had never died away, but then, it could have been his spirit too. He was heavily into paranormal research when he was alive. His image had returned to her at least ten times in the last twenty years.

"You're a bit hard on our daughter, aren't you?" The late William Collins appeared as young as he was the day he died in her arms.

"Why don't you ever appear to her?" Ally asked his shadow as she again wondered if it was his ghost or another of her returning hallucinations.

"You know it doesn't work like that." He answered. "I don't think she'd even recognize me."

"Still got an answer for everything..." His wife pulled her hair back as she wanted to hold him. "Look, I think I've been doing a great job without any help from you. I mean, you're buried all the way up there in Collinsport and your daughters are running wild. Lainey's off in California with your first girlfriend singing on TV and Maddie's..."

"What this thing between you and Larry Paul?" William turned his head up. "I thought you considered him a… what was it? A pinhead?"

"Don't you go changing the subject!" Ally reacted a bit upset. "It is very hard to take care of two... no, three daughters. I know Maddie wasn't yours, but it was your idea to adopt her and she did think of you as her father before you went off and got yourself killed and what are you grinning at?"

"I'm just remembering how adorable you got when you became fierce." He grinned at how much he was in love with her. Ally lost her train of thought as she forced a grin and a childlike smile.

"How is Georgia doing now?"

"Well," Ally continued. "She's... confused. She went to see someone about it."

"My mom sent me to see you." Georgia Angelique Collins was in another building in Boston. The skyline was behind her in the window as she sat up straight on a sofa and tried to explain her thoughts.

"You see, my father was murdered when I was six years old," She continued. "And I just recently learned that he wasn't killed in the way I had been lead to believe. After all these years, I'd been lead to believe that my dad was killed while trying to save my aunt's life, but now it turns out that she was the one responsible for killing him. Apparently, she was a little... Messed up. I don't know how to handle it. She was in love with him and had been trying to replace my mother and I never really realized it. I'm... having a hard time trying to accept it and my mom..."

"Stop right there." Dr. Tracy Clark wrote something in her pad and then shifted her weight in her seat. "First, tell me a bit about your father..."

END


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